Why aren't Resumes exported to PDFs from Publisher ATS-friendly? [masOS]

[MickaelJRPerrier]

Hello,

I am building my CV/Resume in Publisher and when exported as a PDF, it doesn't seem to matter which format I choose (Print, Digital, for export…) or the compatibility version (1.7, 1.6, 1.4…), once loaded into an applicant tracking software (ATS) scanner, like https://cultivatedculture.com/resume-scanner/ for instance, the text is not properly extracted and so the match between my CV and the job offer is pretty low (of course).

The only reason that I found could be that the encoding software used by Affinity is incompatible, somehow, with this ATS technology. Indeed, once I upload my Affinity PDF into PDF Reader Pro Lite and save it as another PDF, the encoding software in the file info (cmd+i) changes from "PDFlib+PDI 9.2.1-j (macOS (x86_64))" for the Affinity file to "macOS version 12.6.1 (Build 21G217) Quartz PDFContext" for the PDF Reader Pro Lite file, which is read by the ATS scanner. The "Version" in the file info also changes from 1.7 to 1.4; but as I said, it doesn't matter as I've also tried to export it as a 1.4 file with Affinity Publisher to no more success.

Does anyone know why this happens, if there is a way to fix this in Affinity, and if Serif is aware of this problem?

P.S.: I attach the files in case people want to dig this issue.

CV_PERRIER_Mickael_AlternanceUX [Affinity].pdf CV_PERRIER_Mickael_AlternanceUX [PDF Reader Pro Lite].pdf

Edited March 23, 2023 by MickaelJRPerrier

[Dan C]

Hi @MickaelJRPerrier,

Welcome to the Affinity Forums

Unfortunately I'm not personally aware of the specifics with the PDFlib library that Affinity uses for exporting to PDF and whether this should be supported, however I can certainly see that the files exported aren't being correctly interpreted by the ATS scanning software currently, my apologies for this.

I will be logging this with our development team now to see if this can be improved in a future update, as in none of my testing currently have I been able to export a compatible file from Affinity using different PDF export settings.

I hope this helps!

[FrancoB]

Yeah I just realised I've been applying for a lot of jobs with a resume I made on Affinity Publisher and no ATS scanning software has been reading my CV correctly- potentially resulting in a lot of wasted applications.

 

Clearly this issue was never addressed

They shouldn't market Affinity Publisher as being able to make CVs if the software doesn't represent it well. Quite fustrated

Edited February 10 by FrancoB

[Callum]

Hi All,

As far as I'm aware this is still something we would like to add in a future update.

21 hours ago, FrancoB said:

Yeah I just realised I've been applying for a lot of jobs with a resume I made on Affinity Publisher and no ATS scanning software has been reading my CV correctly- potentially resulting in a lot of wasted applications.

 

Clearly this issue was never addressed

They shouldn't market Affinity Publisher as being able to make CVs if the software doesn't represent it well. Quite fustrated

We have never advertised Affinity as a dedicated CV writing application or advertised that it can create ATS compatible documents.

Thanks
C

[FrancoB]

24 minutes ago, Callum said:

We have never advertised Affinity as a dedicated CV writing application or advertised that it can create ATS compatible documents.

Hi Callum,

Thanks for your swift response.

While ATS compatibility may not be explicitly marketed, a CV template is provided upon opening the program (see screenshot), which naturally suggests that Affinity can be used for CV creation. Given the widespread use of Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) in modern recruitment, it would be reasonable to ensure that any suggested CV template is at least structured in a way that won’t hinder ATS readability.

Many users—including myself—rely on Affinity for professional document design, and it can be frustrating to later discover that a CV created with the provided template may not perform well in an actual job application process. As ATS optimisation is now a standard requirement in recruitment, I believe either a disclaimer or improvements to the template (e.g., text-based formatting recommendations) could be beneficial for users.

I’d love to hear if there when they might be planned improvements regarding this or if there are best practices you could recommend when using Affinity Publisher to create ATS-compatible CVs.

Appreciate your help.

[Callum]

This isn't a template it's just a sample file to show the kind of documents that can be created in Publisher in this case it was to show a CV that could be printed and handed in the old fashioned way etc. I'll pass your feedback on regarding a disclaimer but I feel this is unlikely to be changed.